Leaving American Idol is the new winning American Idol

This week, two American Idol contestants decided to drop out of the venerable singing competition show on back-to-back nights, with each offering a different reason. First was Sara Beth Liebe, who performed “Roxanne” with help from season two runner-up Clay Aiken, but after finishing her song, she abruptly noted that it would be her last performance, adding, “My heart’s at home, so I’m gonna get home to my babies. They kinda need me.” Then, in a subsequent episode, contestant Kaya Stewart abruptly announced she was leaving the show as well after getting sick and realizing she was unable to give 100 percent to the competition.

In both cases, the show’s judges—particularly Katy Perry—had weird reactions. To Liebe, Perry argued that walking away from the show would mean Liebe never reaching her “fullest potential,” and while it’s important to love your children, “self-love is just as big as motherly love.” In other words, staying on Idol is more important than going back to your family. This was after Liebe and Perry previously had a weird reaction during her initial audition, when Perry made a poorly received joke about how many kids Liebe (who is just 25) has.

As for Stewart, Perry didn’t seem to try so hard to keep her, but she did make pointed comments to fellow contestant Fire, who Stewart was supposed to sing a duet with before choosing to leave the show. “Thank you for standing up here and continuing to try,” Perry told her, “Thank you for swinging, thank you for not forfeiting, thank you for fighting.”—you know, as opposed to someone who wasn’t continuing to try and did forfeit.

These comments are very much operating on the assumption that these aspiring singers need American Idol in order to achieve their dreams, but is that even true? American Idol isn’t the cultural phenomenon it was back when it was on Fox, now that buzzier and fresher shows like The Voice and The Masked Singer have eaten its lunch, and the only people who really care about who wins American Idol are the people who watch American Idol. There’s even a not-so-small chance that most people in the world heard about Sara Beth Liebe and Kaya Stewart for the first time after they quit the show.

That’s a pretty clear indictment of—if not the whole show—then at least Katy Perry’s insistence that competing on American Idol is Good and Important. It’s not clear if Liebe or Stewart want to continue trying to Make It as singers, but it stands to reason that they would have an easier path at making that happen now than they might’ve had if they stuck on the show and were sick or were sad about missing their kids.

To partially quote the Joker, people get sent home on American Idol all the time and the general public and media don’t notice because it’s all part of the plan, but multiple people choose to go home and it’s interesting. It’s news! These people are unique, because they chose to prioritize their health and their family over American Idol. They stand out in a way that even the winner of a given season of American Idol wouldn’t, which never would’ve been the case back in the day.

The reason that stands out is the same as the reason these people were comfortable leaving the show in the first place: American Idol just doesn’t really matter anymore, and that might not have even really solidified until this week. It was always the prestige singing show, the one that was the first big hit and could make people into stars simply by prominently featuring them—regardless of if they ultimately won—but now it’s the singing show you can just leave to go live your life and everything will be okay.